1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to software techniques for marking, decorating and organizing data within a computer system, and more particularly, to a user interface system having a collection of different user interface elements, each having a unique identity and programmed functional characteristic that allows each element to be used to mark, find, organize, and process data in documents within a computer system.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A user interface is something which bridges the gap between a user who seeks to control a device and the software and/or hardware that actually controls that device. A user interface for a phone may be a set of keys. The user interface for a computer is typically a software program running on the computers central processing unit (CPU) which responds to certain user-typed commands. As computers have increased in popularity and availability amongst less computer educated users, the quality of the user interlace has become an ever more important consideration in the development of a computer, since many of these users are not familiar with and/or comfortable with many of the typed commands that are required to operate the computer. One popular type of user interface, which simplifies the operation of a computer, is available on Macintosh computers sold by Apple Computer, Inc., of Cupertino, Calif.
The Macintosh computer user interface employs what is referred to as a desktop metaphor for the basis of its user interface. Through use of a mouse or trackball in communication with the computer, the user can select and/or move certain conic objects on the screen of the computer to control its operation. The desktop metaphor refers to the fact that: (1) the screen of the Macintosh computer often looks somewhat like the blotter of a desktop, with a menu bar across the top of the blotter from which the user can select various control features; (2) there is a trash can icon in the lower right hand corner of the blotter which can be used to remove items from the computer; and (3) programs and documents created with the programs are represented by iconic images of pages which can be placed in iconic images of folders and arranged on the blotter for easy access and organization, like the files of a filing cabinet in an office. These icons can be arranged- on the screen in a number of different manners, such as according to their type, size and color, and the user can search for files by searching for words listed in the title bar associated with each icon, but the user cannot search for a specific iconic image itself.
Another popular portion of the Macintosh user interface is the window feature. When a user selects an icon of a floppy disk or hard disk in a certain manner, a window (a rectangular shaped box which allows the user to "see" the information stored in the drive) appears on the screen of the computer. This window typically contains a number of folder, program and document icons and other images which represent the information stored in the drive. If a user selects a folder icon in a certain manner, the folder will "open" into another window representing the information within that folder. As previously stated, document and program icons can be placed in folder icons, but not vice versa, and no icon can be placed directly on a document. Iconic images have become an important feature of many user interfaces because they can be used to represent different types of data in a form which is readily understandable to the user. Icons, however, have had little functionality associated with them because they are typically only used to represent stored information that a user can access fairly directly, i.e., by selecting the icon. But some icon-like images have had some functionality associated with them, such as the button-like images that can be created with the HyperCard software application sold by Claris Corporation of Mountain View, Calif. The HyperCrad application allows users to create card-like images that can have various images and features associated with them.
One of these features is the button, which can, to a limited extent, be created by the user and given a specific function defined by the user. Each button has an image and a small program or script associated with it which is run each time the button is selected by a user. These scripts can be written by the user using a special language called HyperTalk, which can only be used with the HyperCard program. Buttons are typically only used for mundane tasks, i.e., an image of an arrow may be used to cause the application to flip from one card to another card in response to the arrow being selected by the user. Some buttons are also used to perform some action which is associated with the informational content of the card on which the button appears, i.e., a button on a card displaying a number of musical notes may cause the computer to make sounds representing those notes when the button is selected. A button is limited to representing a task which is to be performed while viewing an associated card in the HyperCard application, and not at some later point in time as directed by the user. For example, a user could not create a "To be printed" button and have the computer latter print every card which contained a "To be printed" button. In addition, buttons are not designed to be used to mark the cards or the data on the cards in any meaningful way to the user.
Another type of functional image is the "Post-it" note used in the FullWrite Professional word processing application by Ashton-Tate Corporation. By choosing the "note" option from the menu bar while writing a document, a small window can be created within which a small amount of text can be entered. When the user closes the window, the window is reduced to a small, generic, symbol which appears at the left-hand margin of the document. The position of the "note" symbol on the page is based on and corresponds to the position of an invisible command, which is entered into the text of the primary document when the user closes the note window. A "note" symbol cannot be moved to a different position along the left margin without moving the position of the invisible command in the text. "Note" symbols can be given names and dates like icons to identify the creator of the note so that notes can be passed to different users and still maintain some level of identity. The name attached to each note, however, cannot be easily customized because the name is taken from the registration information used when the FullWrite application is run the first time. This name can be changed by selecting the "preferences" menu and typing a new name in, but this would not be a desirable manner in which to separately identify each note.
The HyperCard application also allows users to decorate various cards and other documents with special graphic images that can be cut from a card in the HyperCard application and pasted to a different card or a document in a different application. These images, however, are only fanciful bit-mapped designs which have no functionality associated with them. A similar concept is utilized in the KidsPix drawing application for children by Broderbund Software, Inc. of San Rafael, Calif., which provides a palette of different colored "stamps" (bit-mapped graphic designs), which can be selected by a user and stamped (pasted) all over an open document to enhance a picture or drawing. When a stamp is a applied to a document, a noise is issued by the computer to help make the application more entertaining. The same noise is generated for each different stamp. In fact, noises are generally associated with every action performed in the KidsPix application, whether a stamp is selected or a line is drawn. The user cannot program the desired noise the stamp will make when utilized.
One final type of application image which is associated with the same type of function, is the macro program that is often attached to a spreadsheet cell (a bordered area within an electronic document). Spreadsheet applications, such as Microsoft's Excel application, allow the user to create rows and columns of cells within which information can be entered. Separate macro programs can be written to perform certain calculations using the spreadsheet's macro programming language and then associated with a cell so that a series of calculations will be performed and the result will be entered into the cell when that cell is selected. Neither icons, cells, stamps, buttons, nor other types of known graphic images can be used to mark, find, organize and process data in documents within a computer system.
3. Reservation of Copyright
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material to which a claim of copyright protection is made. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but reserves all other rights whatsoever.